2013 Top 12 Countdown: Fire chief hit with racism complaints

NORWALK, Conn. – Today we bring you the second story in our Top 12 countdown – the 12 stories that drew the most page views on this site in in 2013.

Each day, through New Year’s Day, we will rehash one of our most popular stories, along with any updates, with a link to the original story. We will present them in reverse order; we began Saturday, Dec. 21, the 12th most popular, and will work our way to No. 1.

Throughout the holiday season, as official action slows to a crawl, we also will be taking a look back at what we feel were the biggest Norwalk government, school and social service stories of the year, and we’ll take a look ahead at what 2014 may bring.

The 11th best-read NancyOnNorwalk story in 2013 was: Norwalk fire chief defends department’s lack of African Americans.

Early in 2013, growing resentment against the Norwalk Fire Department in the minority community, several people spoke out about what they said as a lack of people of color in the ranks. Fire Chief Denis McCarthy pointed to the lack of candidates and the need to score well on the tests as the reason for the perceived problem, but two retired firefighters who were willing to speak on the record said in an April 23 story that the problem is McCarthy.

One of the retired firefighters, Andre Williams, called McCarthy a racist, and the other, Gregory DeValda, said members of the black community are being told by fellow African-Americans not to apply.

The issue raised its head again this month at the first Mayor’s Night Out under new Mayor Harry Rilling when Williams, vice president of the local NAACP, asked McCarthy to explain why he should have his contract renewed given the drop in the number of black firefighters.

To read the story from April 23, click here.